Reed pen
type of writing implement
A reed pen (Ancient Greek: κάλαμοι kalamoi; singular κάλαμος kalamos) or bamboo pen (traditional Chinese: 竹筆; simplified Chinese: 竹笔; pinyin: zhú bǐ) is a writing implement made by cutting and shaping a single reed straw or length of bamboo.
History and manufacture
Reed pens with regular features such as a split nib have been found in Ancient Egyptian sites dating from the 4th century BC. Reed pens were used for writing on papyrus, and were the most common writing implement in antiquity. In Mesopotamia and Sumer, reed pens were used by pressing the tips into clay tablets to create written records, using cuneiform.
The Ancient Roman calamus was made of the stem of a reed growing in marshy places, of which the best were obtained from Egypt. The stem was first softened, then dried, and cut and split with a knife, as quill pens are made.
Reed pens known as qalams (Arabic: قلم) are still widely used to write Islamic calligraphy.
To make a reed pen, scribes would take an undamaged piece of reed about 20 centimetres (7.9 in) long, and leave the end that would be cut into a point in water for some time. This ensured that the pen would not splinter when crafted. They made a series of cuts that would shape the nib of the pen until it was flat enough, and pointed. The pointed end was then cut off, not too far from the point, to form a squared end suitable for writing.
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This entry incorporates text from “Reed pen” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.